1. CIO, working together with the Defence Business Services (DBS) organisation, is responsible for developing information coherence policy and promoting an agreed controlled vocabulary that is usable throughout Defence; thereby improving interoperability between present and future information systems to support enterprise planning. Interoperability will be improved, with future systems being designed and built to recognised information exchange standards to which legacy systems can also be mapped. Central coordination will provide Defence with a means of adopting information exchange standards that future systems can be built to and legacy systems can map to. However, governance is required to ensure these standards are adopted.
Background
2. Projects are driven by time cost performance envelopes and this process, by its nature, encourages conflicts in priorities that projects must make in order to come in on time and budget. This often results in a stove-piped approach that does not properly take into account wider Defence requirements, contributing to a lack of coherence in the information held in MOD systems. As a result, different people looking for the same facts do not get consistent answers and the way the MOD currently stores and retrieves information is inefficient and does not make it easy to find what is needed. Non standard interfaces are developed resulting in significant resource and effort each time a requirement to exchange data is identified.
CIO Approach
3. Information must be managed properly as required by the business, good practice, the legislation applicable to public records and the Freedom of Information Act. MOD is therefore required to ensure that users are consistent in their approach to information management and use of standards. A balance is required between freedom of action and discipline; adherence to basic rules relating to information storage and retrieval is paramount and common agreed standards must be put in place to enable effective information exchange and reduce duplication.
4. The governance authority that CIO wields will flow from the Defence Management Board, through the Chief Information Officer Forum, the MOD Information Strategy (MODIS) Executive Group and the Enterprise Architecture Working Group to the Data Management Strategy Technical
Implementation Working Group led by DBS KI-ICAD AstHd. This will ensure that the strategic direction and policy development is in accordance with wider MOD policy. There are a number of ways in which CIO intends to achieve an effective governance regime and these are identified below:
JSP 329 Issue 4 Version 1.2
a. JSP 600 leaflets will support and draw the attention of project managers to the policies contained in JSP 329.
b. Policy compliance will primarily be driven by the Network Technical Authority (NTA) through its Integration Assurance (IA) teams and scrutiny processes. However, this will also be augmented by subject matter expertise provided by CIO which will have the authority to
inspect the evidence supporting compliance when it is deemed necessary or appropriate. CIO will liaise closely with the IA teams and may also undertake some scrutiny, on a sample basis, of CIS projects that would otherwise fall below the thresholds of the IA teams.
c. CIO will provide the focal point for information coherence between Defence, Government, NATO and international bodies.
d. CIO will adopt a Communities of Interest (COI) approach to information management. DBS, through DBS KI-ICAD, will ensure that COIs are established and stakeholders identified for each specialist area within Defence.
e. COIs will be established along the Defence Lines of Development (DLODs). (See related documents/links below.).
f. Working Groups will be identified or established for each COI. Each group will be responsible for the following functions:
I. Communications strategy across the COI. II. Definition and terminology issues management. III. Benefits/Risks management.
IV. Coherence of instructions and guidance on information coherence policy within their community.
V. Proposing changes to JSP 329.
Further information on COIs is at Annex A and a representative view of COIs and the governance chain can be found at Annex B.
Supporting External Documents/Relevant Links • Controlled Values Repository (CVR)
• 2005DIN03-12 Defence Lines of Development
• CVR User Guide
• CVR Processes, Objects and Roles
• MOD Information Strategy (MODIS) • Data Management Strategy (DMS)
Contacts for this Policy
Please contact the CIO Information Coherence Policy team Tel: 01793 555433 or Mil 96381 5433.
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JSP 329 Issue 4 Version 1.2
5. For more information, Please contact the CIO Information Coherence Policy team Tel: 01793 555433 or Mil 96381 5433.
4. Data and information managed in, or referenced through, the CVR will support a COI approach along the Defence Lines of Development.
3. A COI is likely to operate most effectively if its members are drawn from across MOD organisations (thus encompassing a broad range of expertise) rather than from the same branch or directorate. Widespread membership is therefore encouraged and there is no restriction on the number of COIs to which an individual can belong.
2. COIs are key to managing the complexities of information interoperability and access to data. They will add value by establishing agreed standards and by taking ownership of key
elements of corporate data. Bringing expertise in their own fields, they will improve data management and sharing across Defence.
1. A COI is a group of stakeholders with a shared interest in a specific subject area or business output. They will be nominated to represent the business needs of their organisation within the MOD. Members of a COI will have a common goal of improving information sharing as well as the establishment of agreed information standards.